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Was the Tabernacle of David Restored in Jesus’s Ministry?

David W Palmer

Obviously, the answer is, “Yes!” Jesus was a tabernacle of worship—the living word, praise personified, glory manifested, anointing-covered, power-filled, and with love overflowing continuously, etc.

(John 1:14 NKJV) “And the Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

God’s word calls Jesus’s physical body his tabernacle, which is simply another word for tent. Like David’s tabernacle, it was a tent that housed God’s glorious presence. However, unlike Moses’s tabernacle—where the ark (representing God’s glorious manifestation) was hidden in a secluded inner chamber—David’s tent had the flaps open so God’s glory could shine out into the world. Similarly, in Jesus we see God’s glory in full manifestation—shining out of his life and ministry: “The Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we beheld His glory.”

• Jesus is the perfect worshipper of his Father—a living tabernacle of worship with the glory of God shining forth.
• And he is a tabernacle of the living God, revealing God so others will worship the one residing in him (John 14:1–11).

Scripture also calls our physical bodies a tent—a dwelling place for both our human spirit and God’s Spirit. (We are one spirit with the Lord (See 1 Cor. 6:17).) It also calls our bodies the “temple of the Holy Spirit.” (Note also that it says: “you are not your own.”)

(2 Corinthians 5:1 NKJV) “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

(1 Corinthians 6:19 NKJV) “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” {See also: Eph. 2:21–22}

God has sent his awesome, infinitely powerful, all-knowing, all-wise Spirit of Holiness to reside within us. Wow! Think of the amazing potential in your life. God also wants the potential for his glory—initially hidden in our hearts—to shine out from us, and to fill the whole world. This is what the rebuilding of David’s tabernacle is all about:

(Numbers 14:21 WEB) “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.”

How do we apply God’s desire to restore David’s tabernacle in us today?

• Prepare a place for the ark—representing God’s glorious manifested presence—like David did:

• He set up an order of singers and musicians, etc. to facilitate continuous praise to God;
• We clean up our lives, our hearts and our tongues to be dedicated solely for his holy purposes;
• We determine to “bless the Lord at all times,” having “his praise continually in our mouths,” even if it has to be a “sacrifice of praise” (See: Psalm 34:1, Heb. 13:15).

• Shoulder the responsibility for the ark like David did—after studying God’s word—carry his presence with the sacrifice of praise, joyous dancing, and being clamorously foolish in man’s eyes.
• Come with a heart of worship like David—yielded to God’s will and ready to obey.
• Worship in spirit and in truth like Jesus—ready to imitate what you see and say what you hear.
• Be like a tent with its flaps open for God’s glory to shine out—like the 120 people who were baptized in the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost—rather than a complex structure with God’s Glory hidden deep inside.

(Colossians 1:27 NKJV) “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

God willed to change from hidden to “known” the “mystery” that Christ is in us, “the hope of glory.” In a similar way, he wants us to allow the hope or potential for glory to come from inside us into full manifestation.

Today, I encourage you to be like David’s tent—wide open for God’s glory to shine forth—not like Moses’s tabernacle with its mysterious complexity and hidden glory. G